Dallas Cowboys Blog

Back in 1995, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones showed he was willing to defy the NFL in order to make what he thought was a prudent business decision, as he negotiated a seven-year sponsorship deal with Nike.

Because NFL Properties could only grant rights to the Cowboys’ name, Jones cleverly sold the shoe company the license to splash its name all over Texas Stadium.

The company just signed a 10-year deal with USC to license, manufacture and distribute school’s athletic apparel. Nike, the company Jones once partnered with, will still supply USC’s on-field uniforms. But Silver Star will provide almost everything else:

Silver Star’s strategy is to develop a private label brand of Southern Cal jerseys, T-shirts and hats with the tags on those items displaying only the Trojan athletics logos, Jones said. Under the terms of the agreement, Silver Star has flexibility to sign deals with other manufacturers to produce items to take advantage of market trends, he said. Those lines would also be branded exclusively with the Trojans marks. Silver Star does not get the rights to sell Nike authentics. The deal is more profitable for USC because Silver Star pays the school a greater amount of royalties compared with Southern Cal’s past licensing agreements, Jones said.

Now, it has entered the market by joining forces with one of the most recognizable athletic programs in the nation. Sixteen years after the deal with Nike, Jones has proven he has yet to stop wheeling and dealing. And in the world of college sports, he may just be getting started.